Etymologically
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rescribo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [rɛsˈkriː.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [resˈkriː.bo][1]

Forms

rescrībō (present infinitive rescrībere, perfect active rescrīpsī, supine rescrīptum); third conjugation[1] The Vindolanda tablets spell it resscr-.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin re- + scrībō (“to write”).[3][1][2] De Vaan derives ⟨scrībō⟩ from Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibʰ-e/o- (“to carve”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is from Terence, in the bookkeeping sense: a man is told to go to the forum and have the money paid back to him by a written transfer.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it is above all to write back, answer a letter: he answered Atticus' morning letter at once and now replies to the evening one.[6][3] Under the Empire it is the emperor's written answer to a request for a ruling, a rescript, as Trajan's to Pliny, and a jurist's written opinion on a point of law.[3] It is also to write a reply in refutation: Tacitus says Caesar answered Cicero's praise of Cato with a speech written as if before judges.[3] Pliny the Younger uses it of rewriting faulty passages, and Livy and Caesar of enrolling troops anew or transferring them to another unit.[3]

Church Latin has it for write again, write back.[7] English rescribe (mid-15th century), now archaic, is from it.[8]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of repaying money by written transfer.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of answering letters.[3][6][5]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy of enrolling new legions.[3][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a written refutation.[3][5]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of imperial rescripts.[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To write back, reply in writing.[3][6][1][7]
  2. (law) Of the emperor, to give a written ruling, a rescript; of a jurist, to give a written opinion.[3][1]
  3. To write in refutation.[3]
  4. To rewrite, write again.[3][7]
  5. (bookkeeping) To pay back by written transfer, credit.[3][1]
  6. (military) To enrol troops in place of others; to transfer to another unit.[3][1]

Word family

  • rescriptiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com